Loadstar Sensors, Inc.

Diasonics, Inc.

John L Schultz

King Wong

Divyasimha Harish

William D Dallenbach

Jonathan T Lim

Jack A Walker

Richard Lee

John J Lum

John Geis

Quang Ton

Diyyasimba Harish

A method, apparatus and system of capacitive sensor based inventory control is disclosed. In one embodiment, an inventory management system includes a first conductive surface and a second conductive surface substantially parallel to the first conductive surface, a sensor to generate a measurement based on a change in a distance between the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface, a scale formed with a set of plates having inserted between the set of plates the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface and a container placed above the scale such that an item (e.g., a liquid, a solid, a discrete part, a powder and/or a gas, etc.) of the container is weighed through the measurement. The inventory management system may further include a reference capacitor associated with the apparatus to enable the sensor to adjust the measurement based on the environmental condition.

Capacitive sensor based inventory control

A capacitive device and method with an enhanced measurement error correction capability is disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a sensor capacitor based on one or more pairs of parallel conductor surfaces, a housing to encompass the sensor capacitor, a digitizer module in the housing to generate a digital measurement based on a change in a capacitance of the sensor capacitor when a contact zone of the housing is deflected by a force applied on the contact zone. The apparatus also includes a compensation module of the digitizer module to apply another digital measurement of one or more distortion factors to the digital measurement to minimize an effect of the one or more distortion factors to the apparatus. In addition, the apparatus includes a communication module to communicate an analog signal and/or a digital signal through a wired channel and/or a wireless channel.

Capacitive device and method with an enhanced measurement error correction capability

Cylindrical capacitance force sensing device/method is disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a capacitor having two parallel conductive surfaces, a cylindrical housing with a cover plate to encompass the capacitor, and a sensor in the cylindrical housing to generate a measurement based on a change in a distance between the two conductive surfaces when the cover plate is deflected by a load applied on the cover plate. In another embodiment, a method may include applying a load on top of a housing which encompasses a capacitive sensor having two parallel conductive surfaces to produce a deflection of a cover plate of the housing, automatically generating a measurement from the capacitive sensor when a distance between the two parallel conductive surfaces is charged due to the deflection of the cover plate, and decreasing an error in the measurement via stabilizing to a mounting surface.

Cylindrical capacitive force sensing device and method

A multi-zone capacitive force sensing apparatus/method is disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes one or more capacitors each having an upper conductive surface and a lower conductive surface substantially parallel to the upper conductive surface, a housing with a top plate and a bottom plate to encompass the capacitors, and a sensor in the housing to generate a measurement based on a change in a distance between the upper conductive surface and the lower conductive surface of each of the capacitors when a contact zone of the top plate associated with the each of the plurality of capacitors is deflected by a force applied on the contact zone. The apparatus may also include a comparison module associated with the sensor to generate a signal indicating unevenness of a force applied on the top plate when there is any significant difference between measurements of the capacitors.

Multi-zone capacitive force sensing device and methods

The method of the present invention comprises displaying an image comprising reflected pulsed doppler signals in real time produced by reflecting a reference pulsed doppler signal, each reflected signal displayed in a color defined by a polar coordinate plot, wherein the polar coordinate plot comprises an origin representing reflected signals of the reference pulsed doppler signal having zero amplitude and zero frequency. The polar coordinate plot further comprises an axis representing reflected signals of the reference pulsed doppler signal having zero frequency, a radius with respect to the origin representing amplitude information of reflected signals of the reference pulsed doppler signal, an angle with respect to the axis representing the frequency of reflected signals of the reference pulsed doppler signal, and a vector displaced 180 degrees from the axis, the vector representing a Nyquist limit of the reference pulsed doppler signal. The colors on the plot in a positive direction at a maximum amplitude for a first frequency towards a point representing maximum amplitude for a second frequency range from a first color to a second color, colors on the plot in a negative direction at a maximum amplitude for a third frequency towards a point for a maximum amplitude for a fourth frequency range from a third color to a fourth color, and the colors for each frequency on the plot range from the color at a maximum amplitude for each frequency to a fifth color at the origin.

Apparatus and method for displaying ultrasonic data

As disclosed herein, a new and improved method and apparatus provide for fine tuning the position of a servomotor used to drive a transducer mounted on an ultrasound probe to a desired position. This improvement is accomplished by processing the analog quadrature output signals of an incremental optical encoder, coupled to the servomotor. The improvement uses the positional information derived from the analog quadrature output signals. The analog quadrature output signals, defined as sine and cosine, are converted to digital square waves. The digital square waves are decoded to produce digital position quadrants, wherein each quadrant represents a specific motor position. The corresponding digital square waves are also decoded by a logic array device and coupled to the select input of an analog switch. The analog quadrature output signals are also coupled to an analog device that converts the output signals to four phase shifted sinusoidal wave forms, having a linear portion within a digital position quadrant. The select signals from the logic array device select one of the four phase shifted wave forms. The output of the analog switch is then compared to a reference signal. The resulting output from the comparison is an analog error signal. This analog error signal forces the motor towards the zero crossing within a digital position quadrant.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

John L Schultz